On this day: October 8

2011: Al Davis, the principal owner of the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders of the National Football League since 1972, dies at age 82 in Oakland, California, from an abnormal heart rhythm, congestive heart failure and a heart muscle disease. During his time as owner, the Raiders won three Super Bowl titles. Davis also coached the Raiders for three years and served as the team's general manager. He was also briefly the commissioner of the American Football League in 1966 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

2007: Marion Jones surrenders the three gold medals and two bronze medals she won at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Syndey, Australia, three days after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to lying to federal agents under oath about her use of steroids before the Olympics.

2005: A magnitude 7.6 earthquake hits parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, leaving more than 100,000 dead and another 138,000 injured, making it the 18th deadliest earthquake of all time.

2004: Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart reports to Federal Prison Camp, Alderson in West Virginia to begin serving a sentence for lying about a stock sale. She would serve nearly five months at the prison before being released to home confinement on March 4, 2005.

2003: The drama "Mystic River," starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden and Laura Linney, and directed by Clint Eastwood, opens in limited release. The movie would be nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, with Penn winning for Best Actor and Robbins winning Best Supporting Actor.

2001: President George W. Bush establishes the Office of Homeland Security and names former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as the office's director. The office would become the Department of Homeland Security in November 2002.

1993: A U.S. Department of Justice report is released absolving the FBI of any wrongdoing in its final assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. The fire that ended the siege killed 76 people, including sect leader David Koresh.

1985: Singer-songwriter and record producer Bruno Mars, best known for the No. 1 singles "Just the Way You Are," "Grenade," "Locked Out of Heaven" and "When I Was Your Man," is born under the birth name Peter Gene Hernandez in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1984: Anne Murray wins the Country Music Association's Album of the Year award for "A Little Good News," making her the first woman to achieve the award. Murray, who co-hosted the awards ceremony at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House with Kris Kristofferson, also won Single of the Year for the album's title track.

1980: Actor and rapper Nick Cannon, who got his start as a teenager on "All That" before going on to host "The Nick Cannon Show," "Wild 'N Out" and "America's Got Talent," is born in San Diego, California. Cannon has also acted in movies such as "Drumline," "Love Don't Cost a Thing" and "Roll Bounce."

1976: The suspense thriller "Marathon Man," starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier and Roy Scheider, premieres in theaters. Olivier would earn an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.

1970: Actor Matt Damon, best known for his roles in such movies as "Good Will Hunting," "The Departed" and the "Bourne" series, and an Oscar-winner along with Ben Affleck for their script for "Good Will Hunting," is born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1964: Gospel singer CeCe Winans, also known for her work as part of a duo with her brother Benjamin "BeBe" Winans, is born in Detroit, Michigan. Some of her best known solo singles include "Well Alright," "Slippin" and "Count on Me," the last of which is a duet with Whitney Houston featured on the "Waiting to Exhale" soundtrack.

1958: Dr. Ake Senning implants the first internal heart pacemaker at the Karolinska Institute in Solna, Sweden. The prototype device, which used only two transistors and was the size of a hockey puck, failed after three hours and was replaced by a second device that lasted for two days. The patient, Arne Larsson, went on to receive 26 different pacemakers during his lifetime before dying in 2001 at the age of 86.

1957: The Brooklyn Dodgers formally announce the team will move to Los Angeles before the start of the 1958 season.

1956: Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series, leading the New York Yankees over the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0 in Game 5. The feat was also the first no-hitter in MLB postseason history.

1956: Clarence Frank Birdseye II, the inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist considered to be the founder of the modern frozen food industry, dies of a stroke at age 69 at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City.

1952: Film director, producer and screenwriter Edward Zwick, best known for directing movies such as "Glory," "Legends of the Fall," "The Siege," "The Last Samurai," "Blood Diamond" and "Love & Other Drugs," is born in Chicago, Illinois. He also co-runs a production company responsible for such films as "Traffic" and "Shakespeare in Love," earning him Academy Award nominations for Best Picture for both, including a win for "Shakespeare in Love" in 1999.

1949: Actress Sigourney Weaver, best known for movies like "Alien," "Ghostbusters," "Working Girl," "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Avatar," is born under the birth name Susan Alexandra Weaver in Manhattan, New York.

1948: Rock musician and songwriter Johnny Ramone, best known for being the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones, is born John William Cummings in Long Island, New York. He died of prostate cancer at age 55 on Sept. 15, 2004.

1943: Actor and comedian Chevy Chase, best known for movies such as "Caddyshack," "National Lampoon's Vacation" and "Fletch," is born Cornelius Crane Chase in New York City.

1943: Author R. L. Stine, best known for his "Goosebumps" series of horror-themed children's books, is born in Columbus, Ohio.

1941: The Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist and a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, is born in Greenville, North Carolina.

1939: Germany annexes Western Poland during World War II. Here German soldiers are shown removing the Polish government's insignia in Gdynia, Poland.

1939: Actor Paul Hogan, best known for his portrayal of "Crocodile Dundee" in three movies, is born in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. He also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1987 for co-writing the first "Crocodile Dundee" movie.

1920: Author Frank Herbert, best known for "Dune," the best-selling science fiction novel of all time, and its five sequels, is born in Tacoma, Washington. He died of a massive pulmonary embolism at age 65 while recovering from surgery for pancreatic cancer on Feb. 11, 1986, in Madison, Wisconsin.

1918: In the Argonne Forest in France, United States Cpl. Alvin C. York attacks a German machine gun nest, killing 25 German soldiers and capturing another 132 during World War I. York was promptly promoted to sergeant and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism, and would later be awarded the Medal of Honor.

1906: German native Karl Ludwig Nessler demonstrates the first "permanent wave" for hair, in his beauty salon on Oxford Street in London to an invited audience of hair stylists. The hair was soaked with an alkaline solution and rolled on metal rods that were then heated strongly. Nessler, who also invented false eyelashes, would move to the United States with the outbreak of World War I and open salons in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Palm Beach and Philadelphia with a peak of 500 employees.

1871: On a hot, dry and windy autumn day, major fires break out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago; Peshtigo, Wisconsin; Holland, Michigan; and Manistee, Michigan; including the Great Chicago Fire. While the Chicago fire (pictured), which killed hundreds and burned more than three square miles of the city, is more well known, the Peshtigo fire was actually more deadly, killing between 1,200 to 2,500 people. That fire remains the deadliest in American history to this day.

1869: Franklin Pierce, who served as the 14th president of the United States from 1853 to 1857, dies from cirrhosis of the liver at age 64 in Concord, New Hampshire.

1793: American revolutionary John Hancock, who served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third governor of Massachusetts, dies at the age of 56 in Boston. Hancock is also remembered for his large and stylish signature on the Declaration of Independence, so much so that the term "John Hancock" became a synonym for signature.

Comments

The views expressed are not those of this site, this station or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use, which are located at the bottom of this page.